Leptospermum nitens is a slender shrub that typically grows to a height of about 3 m with thin, fibrous bark on the older branches and younger stems with soft, silky hairs at first.

The leaves are narrow egg-shaped to narrow wedge-shaped, The flowers are white or pink and are born singly or in pairs on short side shoots.

The floral cup is long and is covered with flattened silky hairs. 

Flowering occurs from July to October, or in December or January and the fruit is a capsule with the remains of the sepals attached, but that falls from the plant when the seeds mature.